INMA: “Is air pollution related to emotional and behavioural problems in children?”

It is not yet well understood if exposure to air pollution is associated with emotional and behavioural problems in children. To increase this understanding, a group from ISGlobal set up a study to assess prenatal and postnatal exposure to several air pollutants and child’s depressive and anxiety symptoms, and aggressive symptoms. The participating children were between 7 and 11 years old. In total, data of 13,182 children from 8 European population-based birth cohorts was analyzed. Various air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter, were estimated at residential addresses of each participant. Depressive and anxiety symptoms and aggressive symptoms were assessed using tests reported by the parents. The analyses were adjusted for various socio-economic and lifestyle characteristics, such as parental age and education. In the studied population, 1,896 14.4% children were classified as having depressive and anxiety symptoms in the borderline/clinical range, of which 1,108 fell in the clinical range. Regarding aggressive symptoms, 1,778 (13.4%) children were classified in the borderline/clinical range, from which 870 fell into the clinical range. The findings of the study further showed that there was no association between prenatal and postnatal exposure to air pollution with depressive and anxiety symptoms or aggressive symptoms in children of 7 to 11 years old.